Actress Barbara Britton and her husband, Dr. Eugene Czukor, donated 21 acres on Dodgingtown Road next to their country house so St. Mary Church could build a school. The couple pose with their children, Christina and Theodore. less

Actress Barbara Britton and her husband, Dr. Eugene Czukor, donated 21 acres on Dodgingtown Road next to their country house so St. Mary Church could build a school. The couple pose with their children, ... more

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The first graduating class of St. Mary School in Bethel, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. ItâÄôs the Class of 1964

The first graduating class of St. Mary School in Bethel, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. ItâÄôs the Class of 1964

Photo: Contributed Photo

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St. Mary School to mark 50 years

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BETHEL -- When the St. Mary Church community was looking for land to build a school, actress Barbara Britton and her husband, Dr. Eugene Czukor, offered property adjoining their country home on Dodgingtown Road.

Britton, who starred opposite such actors as Joel McCrea, Randolph Scott and Gene Autry in a career that included more than 26 films as well as television roles, and her husband had a rambling, red-shingled house. It was their respite from New York City, where they lived with their two children, Christina and Theodore, and they had enough land to want some to be used for a good cause.

On Sept. 9, 1962, the parish broke ground on the 21-acre parcel, and St. Mary School opened one year later with 243 students. Sister Julian, of the Sisters of Notre Dame, was its principal.

On Saturday, a gala celebration at the Ethan Allen Hotel will mark the 50th anniversary of the school that graduated its first class on June 14, 1964, and has educated more than 1,000 students.

The Most Rev. Frank J. Caggiano, bishop of the Bridgeport Diocese, will be among the guests.

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"I'm very excited about the anniversary," said Patricia Stankaitis O'Neil, who was in the first graduating class. "I look back now and feel like I was a pioneer, but I didn't realize it then. It's very cool."

The school started with first, second, third, seventh and eighth grades only, she said, but it now has a program for 3- and 4-year-olds, as well as classes for kindergarten through eighth grade.

At that time, O'Neil said, the school stood alone, because the church was downtown on Greenwood Avenue, where it remained for another 33 years.

The children who started in the new school came from public schools, as she did, or from other Catholic schools in Danbury.

Christina Britton Conroy, an author and music therapist who lives in New York City, will attend the gala with her husband, actor Larry Conroy.

"I'm so happy that I can represent my parents. They're so pleased to see what happened there," Conroy said Tuesday. "They've educated more than 1,000 children. That's astounding."

She was under 10 years old at the time of the donation and vaguely remembers the ground-breaking ceremony, but she didn't know the circumstances of the donation.

"We weren't Catholic. I know my parents offered the land to the Protestants in town, but they couldn't get their act together, so they offered it to the Catholics. They did it beautifully," Conroy said. "They (her parents) wanted it to go to do good work."

Don Kallberg, who has two children in St. Mary School and two who have graduated, has compiled a slide show of donated photos for the celebration.

"It's been a great group of alumni and parents who have jumped in to help," he said. "People just love the school."

St. Mary School, which has had six principals -- all from the School Sisters of Notre Dame community -- now is led by Sister Anne McCarthy, who is in her 26th year as principal.

She's thrilled with the celebration of the school, which in 2008 became the first in the diocese to be recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence.

"Education has always been important, but today more than ever it's of utmost importance," McCarthy said. "The fact is we are faith-based, and if ever there was a need for respect for one another and morals it is now," she said.

She said there is a place for Catholic schools today as a choice for parents.

"It's one of the great missions of the church to spread the gospel through education," she said, "and what better way is there than through the little ones?"

The school has a plan to renovate space to build a new science lab, and a raffle at the gala will raise money for that project.

The school also received a $10,000 donation for the lab from parents of an alumna, and the couple has agreed to match another $10,000, Kallberg said Tuesday.

McCarthy said she is glad Conroy will be at the gala. "I'm so happy we were able to locate her, and she is able to come."

For tickets, $100 per person, call 203-744-2922 or email emcclellan@stmarybethelct.org.